Now I'm not talking television and compact discs here. My question is this, do you consider yourself a crossdresser or a transvestite? why? whats the difference?
The dictionary says they are the same thing...
I refer to myself as a transvestite simply because it sounds technical and I like to feel like a big shot who knows alot
I'm not sure but I think Transvestites actually want to be with male partners.
What's in a name.....it just pigeon holes us into neatly defined little holes.....and we are more of a wide spectrum......a pretty spectrum.....not just tv vs cd.....
and btw... CD and TV are synonymous.....
It's been my observation that Europeans refer to themselves as transvestites vs us north americans that call ourselves crossdressers.....on the average....
That would be trans-sexuals I think....Originally Posted by marie354
Karren
Last edited by Karren H; 12-12-2006 at 09:31 PM.
Both terms derive from the same Latin source. Just a translation thing - although TV, used earlier, carries more derisive pseudo-medical contextual baggage.
TransGender is a good sloppy term that includes us all.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Big words for a girl......hehehe
Love Karren
There have been considerable posts on this subject previously, but for a quick recap:
Transvestite and Crossdresser are technically the same, but the term transvestite has been around longer and carries a lot of baggage for some people due to the so-called mental health professionals attaching the stigma of sexual deviancy to it and the general public conception of transvestites as being equal to homosexuals. So, a lot of people these days prefer the term cross-dresser to try to break away from the stereotype views of transvestites.
Regards,
Bobbie.
Live in the Present.
Forgive the Past.
Wow!!! that was fast, lol. I was mostly just curious is all, you just hear all of these words thrown around and it just makes you think. I agree with Karren though it does seem as if europe has a tendancy twards the TV as opposed to CD, but what is in a name? I'm me and that's all that matters.
thanks everyone
CDing the generic word Transvestite the high dollar word.
You say potato, Dan Quail, potatoe. Same veggie!
Comfortable in my own skin.
"Never underestimate the power of human stupidity, and never cease to be amazed by it!" Lazarus Long
The answer seems obvious. Since the name of this site is crossdressers.com, we're clearly crossdressers ans transvestites would be banned. Similarly, if the site were called transvestites.com, no crossdressers would be allowed.
Try Andrea Dworkin or Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak sometime.
But I wouldn't call 'em 'girls' - not to their face, anyway.
I don't believe anti-intellectualism is necessarily a female 'trait.'
Last edited by Calliope; 12-12-2006 at 09:57 PM.
They can call me what they like Hon but don't ever, ever call me late for dinner. I don't call myself anything really. We use these terms to describe ourselves for the sake of simplicity but do they describe us really? Do they describe who we are as people and individuals? Hell no. When people ask me if I'm gay, bi or straight I say: "Yes" and they more often than not look at me crosseyed. I say that because I don't consider myself any of the above. I consider myself Ericka the person. The person inside is the one that counts. I don't care if you look like a man, woman or an elephant. I sound like a broken record sometimes and can't figure out why folks can't "get it". I deal with the person not some obscure title. Whew! Glad I got that off my chest. My BF's are still there (I think).Ericka Kay
With lines like that, I sure hope you'll consider challenging Hillary for the Presidency.
Can I vote tonight?
They call me AMY! I call myself AMY! I am a Crossdresser. I wear clothes of ther opposite sex. Now I forgot which was the oppsite sex is it me or you????
Ladies have a GREAT time!
Smile GOD LOVES you!!!
GOD BLESS US ALL!!!
AMY Hepker
ROSES ARE RED
VIOLETS ARE BLUE
I'LL BE ME
AND YOU BE YOU
Sure but it will have to be on the "straight" ticket, I think. Man, you were quick on that DT, sure you're not a woman?
Me, myself and Irene, I think.
I think a Transvestite is someone who wears a transparent vest and a Crossdresser is someone who wears a cross or is very angry... I have been known to be wrong about thesetechnical thingy watchamacallites... damn where did I leave the remote.
Kim
Let me see if I can wrap my mind around this one:
Transvestite ... the original term that nowadays is synonomus with the new term crossdressing. Both are terms that merely mean that a person of one gender wears the clothes of a different gender with absolutely no implication of intention.
Transvestic fetishism is a new term coined to describe the reason why someone (like me) would wears clothes of the opposite sex... for sexual arousal.
Transgender is a term that describes a person that is deemed one gender based on their genitals but mentally identifies themselves as the opposite gender.
Transsexual is a term that describes someone who is transgendered who is actively seeking gender reassignment surgery and wants to physically take on the physical attributes of the gender whom they identify themselves with.
If you are someone that wears the clothes of the opposite sex as a joke (say on Halloween) or do it for a job or for a spy mission ... if it is something that you do that has no emotional attachment - than it is just dressing up.
If you have compulsion to do so ... if it is ingrained into your life that you must dress this way to allow you to feel complete in one way or another, than you are a crossdresser and you belong to this family. And what a wonderful family it is. I have only been here a short time but I can feel the love and warmth of you all and I consider myself blessed.
Ha Ha
Anyway, at home and with my SO we use the term transvestite as it is easily used in Spanish and English. There is no equivalent of crossdresser in Spanish other than transvestite. I am OK with crossdresser, but it does tend to remind me how in the good old USA we tend to always look for softer new terms to describe people that will not offend anyone, if not downright euphemisms. Not that there is anything wrong with that either. And before I end up sounding like Hillary...Hell, what is wrong with being a transvestite, pseudo- medical contextual terminology baggage included?
Michelia
I kinda like Transvestite but nobody on this side of the pond really ueses that term so i just say crossdresser though i have dscribed myself to someone as a transvestite before.
Hey, nothing wrong with being a transvestite.
It's that yadayadda baggage - white clinic laboratory petri dish microscope Sigmund Freud inspector's report that gets on my ...
... wait a minute, I'm trying to come up with some more highfalootin' goobledegook terminology...
[Passes out under the strain.]
Though I don't think that either term is really totally appropriate, or even fair - I simply think of it as dressing up - I prefer crossdresser to transvestite, if a choice has to be made. Transvestite , first off, is a big, old, pompous Latin-type word when crossdresser, the Anglo-Saxon description, is much more to the point. When any sort of alternative is offered, the modus operandi should always favor the Anglo-Saxon word, ceteris paribus. Good writing, Strunk & White assures us, eschews the Latin, knowing; Vox populi, vox Dei.
Besides, crossdresser seems to center more on the fashion aspect, opposed to transvestite, which arises from the psychiatric community and basically defines a pathology of mental illness revolving around specific sexual issues.
Transvestites are routinely presumed to be gay men dressing as women for the point of luring other men to have sex with them, or else straight men with a sexual fixation to the point of fetish - neither of which seems to fit me very well.
Crossdresser then seems more appropriate to describe males who are a bit more ambidextrous about their fashion sensibilities, though I still insist all I am doing is dressing up with a unique sense of style and fashion for a guy.
Either way, transvestite or crossdresser were both earlier terms. Now, as a trendy cultural area all this stuff has found an entire range of academic and therapeutic language has grown up around it. TG, TS (pre-op, post-op and non-op) , gender dysfunction? If I had to pick an over all term I believe GV ( I prefer the term Gender Variance as adopted by the 4 th Annual Gender Congress to the term Transgender, but that is a separate discussion) would be the best choice, if only because it covers the widest range.
The term I have come to prefer is that of Tgirrl. In part a giving into the accepted terminology of Trans, even if I don't like it, and the use of the girrrl spelling adapted from the 90s rock and roll RiotGrrrl movement.
I like those girrls, like L7, because they were tough and not just frilly. But they managed to be all girl no matter how tough they looked, and that seemed to me to be a good role model of what a good modern girl is all about. Girrl is obviously what it seems to be, but also it is a definite way of also saying different girl, Tgirrl.
Well all I would say go with the Umbrella term TRANSGENDERED this covers everyone from a Mild Cross Dresser to a Post Op Transsexaul. ALL in the same group just at different stages.
CD : is someone who wears the clothes of the Opposite Sex
Transvestite : Is someone who desiers to Dress in the Female Role
All the Labels No Doubt were made up by MALES. Like Ladyboy, Chicks with Dicks, ******** ... Personally I HATE all those Terms. They are also all linked to Sex or Sexual acts, or having sex if you are with one.
I think if girls made them up ( which they probably have better things to do ) would be much nicer. I think TG Girl is a rather nice one. For me it's Just Cami. Not Cami, Pre-op TS or Transsexaual Female, Just plain CAMI . If it is real important to the one I am with, I'm Cami ,a Female with a Transgender Background. How many meet new people and say Hi I'm Cindy, i'm a CD OR Hi Im John a Hetrosexual Male ?? or Even Hi I'm Julie, I had a kidney removed ?? Bet not many ! Sometimes ppl offer More Information than Needed.
So I just wonder why Lables are so Important to everyone.
I do know here in the USA there is a Big Lack of Education on the whole subject. Here you can be killed just for being who you are, yet in the Phillipines , it is Natural For TS Women to blend with society, work right along with others
Last edited by Cami_wi; 12-13-2006 at 02:06 AM.
" Go Confidently in the direction of your Dreams ! Live the Life You've Imagined. "
" SHOOT FOR THE MOON, Even if you miss, You'll Land among the Stars "
~Cami Dawn~
tv vs cd?
Me to new person-"I'm a transvestite"
Them "what's that"
Me "a cross-dresser"
Them "oh"
Posting Permissions
